Experience the sights and sounds of the 20th Annual American Indian Heritage Celebration from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.Saturday, Nov. 21, at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh. Eric N. BlevinsNorth Carolina Museum of History

Experience the sights and sounds of the 20th Annual American Indian Heritage Celebration from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.Saturday, Nov. 21, at the N.C. Museum of History in Raleigh. Eric N. BlevinsNorth Carolina Museum of History

Family Picks: American Indian Heritage Fest in Raleigh

If, like our family, you’re traveling over Thanksgiving, you might be willing to let the kids have control of the weekend before. Our 5-year-old is openly dreading hours in the car (likely because she’ll be buckled into a seat the whole time with no freedom to get up and do). If your kids are old enough to negotiate, maybe make them a deal: let them pick what the family does with the weekend, so long as they’re patient with next week’s car or plane ride. It might work!

▪ With Thanksgiving around the corner, it’s essential to remember whose land this was first. No better place for that than the 20th annual American Indian Heritage Celebration, which runs 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Saturday at Raleigh’s N.C. Museum of History. North Carolina’s eight state-recognized tribes will send storytellers, drummers, dancers, craftspeople and other keepers of native culture. The noon Call to Entry sees a tribe-by-tribe procession at Bicentennial Plaza. Visit ncmuseumofhistory.org.

▪ Santa Claus is coming (to the mall). Santa arrives at Durham’s Northgate Mall Saturday, riding a golf cart and accompanied by New Orleans-style parade band Bulltown Strutters, at a holiday kickoff event 10:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. That same day, author, storyteller and host of WRAL-TV’s “Smart Start Kids,” Willa Brigham, will be at Northgate’s Discovery Nook between 12:30 and 2:30 p.m. Both events are free. Visit northgatemall.com.

▪ Every month, there’s a different 90-minute hands-on workshop at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. November’s workshop, which is Saturday 10:30 a.m.-noon, lets kids make electronic music with unexpected materials. Using a MaKey MaKey circuit board and materials like bananas and Play-Doh, children 6 and up can program new tunes using kid-friendly software. To learn more about MaKey Makey, visit makeymakey.com; to register for this workshop, which costs $15 per person, visit lifeandscience.org. The workshop cost does not cover museum admission, which runs from $11-16 for non-members or those older than 2.

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